Done some exploring - I like this headline -
“Access to best teaching is down to luck, says Ofsted
Inspectors hail inner-cities and say bad schools can be found in affluent areas”  http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/11/access-to-best-teaching-down-to-luck-ofsted

Some more headlines - http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news__events/news/2013/december_2013/schools_national_coverage.aspx

Further exploration of Tower Hamlets - http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning.aspx

Poverty should not be the excuse for children to received substandard education.

What about the canaries in Tower Hamlets - “The Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) team offers advice, information and training to teachers, teaching assistants and parents to support the inclusion and teaching of pupils with SpLD, including those with Dyslexia.

Parents/carers concerned about their child’s literacy should in the first instance get in touch with their school or early years setting.”  https://fisonline.tribalhosted.co.uk/TowerHamlets/EarlyYears/PublicEnquiry/Search.aspx?providerID=2930

And here - “Dyslexia Parents’ Support Group offers parents / carers of children or young people who have dyslexia or dyslexia-type difficulties the opportunity to meet other parents / carers and obtain support and information around key themes / relevant issues. “
https://fisonline.tribalhosted.co.uk/TowerHamlets/EarlyYears/PublicEnquiry/Search.aspx?providerID=2884

The parents and teachers of canary children in Tower Hamlets have access and programs for children with reading difficulties. So unlike other K to 12 in other parts of the world, where the gateways are locked to access programs and research based on the science that connects the schools to the relevant outside organizations and agencies for both teachers and students.

I call SE students the canaries of a schools because it is the SE students who give the first warning balls that the education program offerings of a school, is not working for the SE children based on achievement.

From what I have observed over the years, School success should always be based on the outcomes of the students to decide what will be or not be in areas of education programs, decisions, curriculum and instructional methods. For Tower Hamlets, the educators have direct access to the research found inside and outside of the K to 12, that is tied to education training and development of educators.

Need More Details, Nancy

Hi Nancy:

Love your tracking skills so please see what you can find.  Love your links so far.

This Tower Hamlets case really needs some more details, however.

Apparently there were a LOT of resources and $ poured in.  Any info on that — why even in the beginning they had more than other districts?  The big 60-page report says they started to use their resources more effectively.  Is this going to be a case of simply “more funding” as the povertists keep saying or was there finally some attention to the task?  And, who were the project’s advisors?

Anyway, Nancy, the usual formula these days for education illusion of “improvement” as studied by Coulson* is this:

3Xmore costs + 2X more staff = flat results (or business as usual)

Is Tower Hamlets case going to be different?  3X$ + 2Xstaff = results ?

So, Nancy, can you find anything re amount of costs and amount of increased staff?

Tom, thanks for the story, but I think there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye. 

*Coulson report as posted SQE March 19, 2014 — How much more money, O Lord?

Part 1 of 2

I could not find actual figures in one place, but what it is all about of putting in programs that increases social capital that increases achievement of students, and by extension community standards and knowledge for all of the people.

Wikipedia version - background infor - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Tower_Hamlets

New scheme launched to help with the cost of university life
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news__events/news/2013/july_2013/mayors_uni_grant_scheme.aspx

Nursery and childcare funding - http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/851-900/888_early_years_and_childcare/nursery_and_childcare_funding.aspx

School finance and support
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/school_finance_and_support.aspx

Teaching training courses in Tower Hamlets
http://www.trainingandcourses.com/london/teaching-courses/qualification/study/tower-hamlets/default.html

What does the schools spending data show?
Continue reading the main story
School League Tables
The government has for the first time released swathes of data for England’s state schools, showing funding and expenditure per pupil, and how the money is spent.
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-12175480

The BBC League Tables - http://www.bbc.com/news/education-11950098
And from there, there is links to go to the actual numbers- http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=LA&no=211&superview=pri

Example of an outside organization working hand in hand with education - Children Education Group focuses on a number of projects that is designed to benefit the local residents.  From all walks of life we require education, support from our friends and family.  We are here to be that extension, to grow as a community. - http://wwww.childreneducationgroup.com/wordpress/?page_id=2

Meet the Mayor of Tower Hamlets - more on the politics at the end - Free school meals for Tower Hamlets pupils
http://mayorlutfurrahman.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/free-school-meals-for-tower-hamlets-pupils/

Funding for Tower Hamlets athletes to help with training, coaching costs - http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/funding_for_tower_hamlets_athletes_to_help_with_training_coaching_costs_1_3315581

Transforming Tower Hamlets - http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=19&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CHsQFjAIOAo&url=http://lutfurrahman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mayors-3-years-email-low-res.pdf&ei=271aU_jhEuXu2AWcoYGwBg&usg=AFQjCNFjt_mUXsiXwtarO4G8YBb-g240yg&sig2=JYC5yg-nP0AOoQuYCVrajg&bvm=bv.65397613,d.b2I

Part 2 of 2

In the politics - cuts by the Cameron government is a threat - 1. 2012 music cut but the music program survived - http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/apr/16/school-music-services-hubs-privatisation

This election is vitally important to the future of Tower Hamlets. The current Mayor has lost his way and is not meeting the challenges of leading the Council – or the Community. - http://labourlist.org/2014/03/winning-in-tower-hamlets-home-to-labour-pride/

Tower Hamlets Watch blog page - http://towerhamletswatch.wordpress.com/

In the Wikipedia Link - “The council runs several Idea Stores in the borough, which combine traditional library services with other resources, and are designed to attract more diverse members. The flagship Whitechapel store was designed by David Adjaye[54] and cost £16 million to build.[55]”

A library, the Whitechapel Idea Store, constructed in 2005 at a cost of £12 million by William Verry to a design by David Adjaye, was nominated for the 2006 Stirling Prize.[15]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitechapel_Idea_Store#Culture

https://www.ideastore.co.uk/  - From there check out the courses at reasonable costs. Can’t get that in the big cities of Canada. One is more apt to see the local library shuttered and local courses at the college restrictive and expensive. Are looking for a course in Tower Hamlets? Idea Store Learning offers over 900 high quality courses in a wide range of subjects. Whatever your reason for learning we have a course for you! - https://www.ideastore.co.uk/course-search

The Whitechapel Idea Flagship store - https://www.ideastore.co.uk/idea-store-whitechapel

Would love to go to Whitechapel - it put any of what Canada has to offer at the bottom of the pack -
  A large collection of books, CDs and DVDs
  An extensive range of newspapers and magazines
  A children’s library
  A cafe
  Free Internet access
  A range of state-of-the-art learning spaces and classrooms
  Specialist space for teaching dance

Its really a government - public institutions - community organizations - and private financing initiative to come together as a community to provide wrapped around services. The Idea Store is not just a library. Nor are the outside education services just private tutoring of one sized fits all approaches. The K to 12 education establishment works hand in hand with the mayor to bridge services and knowledge to the teachers, parents and students. The school becomes a hub - a clearinghouse of information and support linking parents to all relevant places inside and outside of the school. It goes beyond the school walls, where parents are linked to resources telling parents the systematic phonics approach or if it was in Canada - linking parents to Joanne’s Remediation Plus or John Mighton’s Jump Math. The libraries becomes a different kind of hub that includes yoga or dance lessons for the little ones. The music places becomes a different kind of hub where all chldren has at least one year exposure to learning a music instrument, and perhaps a second year after that. In Canada, the K to 12 education establishment would not be caught dead directing parents to the reading science or telling parents about Orton Gillingham Method, or drill to mastery are excellent tools for home.

That is why, if one is going to live in London, the best borough to live in is Tower Hamlets. Just checkout the Wikipedia page,  or as the news article of the blog posting -  poverty should not the excuse for delivery of substandard education, that leads to lower achievement.  Education services and offerings do not necessarily have to be delivered through the schools. The possibilities are unlimited when the public is let into the schools, to unlock the access gates of the K to 12 establishment.

Thanks Nancy.

Tower Hamlets has a large heavily-Muslim Bangladeshi community.  School outreach measures included involving the local Imams and hiring teaching assistants from the community.  Bangladeshis’ exam results have improved so dramatically in recent years that they now outscore whites in GCSE exams taken at 16—astonishing for a mostly working-class group. (Source: The Economist)

The Somali community has a similar awful-schools, awful-results situation here in Toronto. So the TDSB recently set up a task force to see what can be done.

Turns out that all the TDSB can think of is to lower expectations, offer some extra help for homework, and buy more technology.  Blecch. 

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/04
/24/somali_community_split_over_task_force_recommendations.html

And further, a petition on Change.Org about the Somali schools.  http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/chris-bolton-stop-ghettoizing-canadian-children-of-somali-descent?recruiter=36191293&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition